


The High Road

by MariaArnt



Series: This Light Between Us [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Dark Rey, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Redeemed Ben Solo, Sith Rey, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-01 09:34:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12702165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MariaArnt/pseuds/MariaArnt
Summary: One of two sequels to "This Light Between Us," companion to "The Low Road."When faced with the choice, Ben decides to do as Rey says and run. He knows that if he were to stay, he'd fall back to the Dark and drag her along with him. If he leaves, he has a chance at finding the balance his grandfather spoke of and saving them all.





	1. Chapter 1

Rey turned back to Ben, the sense of deja vu almost overwhelming. <You have to go,> she told him.

<What? No! I can't leave you!>

<You have to!> she argued.

Ben stood, frozen with indecision, his gaze torn between her and the rapidly approaching stormtroopers.

Rey finally recognized the surreal sense of familiarity. She had seen a vision of this moment. It was almost as if she were watching herself now.

<Go, Ben! Run!> she yelled into his mind, startling him out of his paralysis.

The galaxy hung frozen as she waited to see which version of her premonition would come true....

* * *

 

Ben glanced between Rey and the approaching stormtroopers. Strangely, the only thing he could think of was the message his grandfather had given him.

Remember, Ben. Power is only valuable as long as you can use it to protect those you love. The Dark Side offers only destruction. The Light demands a release of all attachments. Find the path between, find the balance. Only then will your power have meaning.

If he stayed, if he faced Snoke, even with Rey by his side he knew he would fall to the Dark Side once more. He would never find the path between, would never be able to protect her.

He pressed his hand against the buzzing barrier of the ray shield, and she placed her palm against the opposite side. It seemed brutally unfair that they were together again for such a short time, but he knew she was right. With a grimace, he tore himself away from her and ran for the hatch.

Jumping down, he experienced a moment of disorientation as he passed into the Millenium Falcon, and just managed to grab a rung of the ladder before he flipped upside-down. Not letting it shake him, he scrambled up to the main deck and ran through the familiar curving corridor towards the bridge. Chewie was at the helm, and he felt a stab of guilt that radiated from the wound in his side. He pushed it aside, though, and threw himself into the copilot's chair, buckling in and then leaning forward to begin flipping switches.

Chewbacca sprang into action, too, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. He asked if Rey was okay, was she in the medstation?

Ben made a pained face but didn't stop prepping the ship. He disengaged the airlock, the sound of the coupler releasing like a shot to his heart. "She's still on the _Finalizer_ ," he said through gritted teeth as the Falcon pulled away.

Chewie roared a denial as he tried to turn the ship back around.

"She told me to go without her!" Ben shouted over the wookie. "You think I wanted to leave her there?!"

He barked back that he'd made a promise to stay until Rey returned.

Ben forced himself not to roll his eyes. _Wookies and their promises_. But before he could open his mouth to respond, Rey whispered a suggestion into his mind. He sighed and stared down at the console. "She says to tell you your family needs you," he repeated.

Chewie froze, his long-fingered hands still gripping the controls tightly.

Closing his eyes against the pain, Ben finished the message. "And that this is your chance to make up for the time you didn't come to the Academy."

In a low chuff, Chewie informed him that he'd never told Rey about that.

"She figured it out on her own. She's perceptive like that," Ben replied.

A voice came over the intercom, startling Ben. He had thought they were alone on board.

"She knew the risks like the rest of us, sir," came a woman's voice.

"The jedi's a tough one," a male voice agreed. "She'll find her way out of it."

Sighing, Chewbacca pressed a button and the nav computer started calculating the hyperspace calculations.

"This is Falcon 3," the male voice announced over the comm to the rest of the Resistance fleet. "We have the Prodigal and we're jumping out."

Cheers rang out in response. Ben looked out at the jumbled battle, at the men and women who were fighting - dying - for him. He knew he should be grateful to them, but all he could feel was a cold dread as he drifted further and further from Rey. As the battle and surrounding stars elongated into the flashing lights of hyperspace, he closed his eyes and reached for their bond. She was nervous and rattled, but still felt confident, ready for whatever faced her.

She had no idea.

* * *

 

Rey didn't have to wait long until the stormtroopers reached her. They surrounded her, blasters drawn, and she doubted they were set to stun. At the orders of their squadron leader, a couple broke off to follow Ben down the escape hatch, supposedly as a backup to Kylo Ren. But the interior hatch slammed shut just as they reached it, and the access panel flashed red - the hatchway was now open to the vacuum of space. The troopers glanced back to the sergeant.

"Commander Ren can handle himself," he decided. Turning back to Rey, he pulled a pair of restraining cuffs from his belt. "Now, Jedi scum, put your hands up where we can see them."

Rey did so. She had no desire to fight them. She was numb from losing Ben when he had been so close, and all that she could think as she looked at the white plastic helmets was that behind them were people. Men and women, like Finn, who had been stolen from their families at birth and brainwashed to follow orders. Even if she could bring herself to kill them, there were millions of others on the _Finalizer_. She couldn't kill them all.

The sergeant raised a hand, and a moment later the ray shield dropped. One of the troopers darted forward to take her lightsaber, and another one patted her down for additional weapons. They were thorough - they found the knife in her boot and the small blaster Han had given her in the pack on her belt. They were more than weapons, they were symbols and memories. She felt their loss keenly.

The sergeant approached her from behind and then took first one, and then the other of her wrists down to put in the restraints. That done, he turned her around and barked an order. The squadron formed up and they herded her back down the corridor.

The ship seemed to go on forever. They passed through the blast doors, now opened fully, and passed down another corridor. From there they took a lift and then traveled through a maze of hallways. At last, the stormtroopers led her through a bulkhead that opened up to a large conference room. There were datapads scattered across the long table, and the chairs were in a disarray. It seemed the Resistance attack had interrupted a meeting.

Alone at the head of the table sat a red-headed man in a dark uniform. He stood when they entered, put his hands behind his back, and scowled at Rey. He was young for someone with so much power, perhaps the same age as Ben. But he wore it with the ease of someone born to it, as if it was his right.

This must be General Hux, she realized. She might have recognized him from the vague glimpses she had caught through her bond with Kylo. But more than that, she had seen the color of his hair and the shape of his features mirrored in a little girl in hiding on Jakku.

"So, we've finally found our leak," he said in clipped tones. "Kylo Ren was on a Resistance ship when it jumped to hyperspace. Since I highly doubt he was defeated by its occupants, it's safe to assume that he defected, and the subsequent retreat," he gestured to the window behind him, which showed only a few TIE squadrons and a mess of floating debris, "implies that was the purpose of the attack."

Rey said nothing. If she was supposed to be impressed by his powers of deduction, it wasn't working.

That seemed to irk him. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't have you executed as a spy right now." The statement, almost a command, was given with the casual sincerity of one who often orders the deaths of others.

Rey said the first thing that came into her head. "You're looking for something. I know what it is."

The merest flicker of fear passed over his expression. "I'll admit, you're much more subtle than Ren, but I'm familiar with his tricks. You could have pulled that from my mind."

She let out a short, humorless laugh. "I'm not that good. Besides, I know something about it you don't - I know _where_ it is."

Hux's eyes narrowed. "You're bluffing."

Shaking her head, she smiled. "Not at all. I'm quite certain - the resemblance is uncanny."

All the color drained from the General's face.

He took a few steps forward, glancing at the stormtroopers that surrounded her. "Are you offering this information in exchange for your life?" he asked quietly.

"No," she said firmly. "But if you kill me, the only chance of finding her dies with me."

A muscle just below his right eye twitched, and he nervously looked around at the stormtroopers once more. "We shall discuss this at some later time," he decided. "Take her to the brig," he ordered.

Rey smiled grimly. She'd won the first battle. She could do this.

* * *

 

As the Falcon landed on the planet that housed the Resistance base, Ben felt his anxiety skyrocket. Soon, he would have to face his mother.

Sniffing, Chewie rumbled as he went through the cooldown checklist that if Leia hadn't forgiven him, she wouldn't have organized this mission.

Glancing at the wookie from the corner of his eye, Ben raised an eyebrow. "And when did _you_ learn to read minds?"

Chewie snorted and then chuffed that he'd recognize Ben's expression anywhere - he hadn't changed that much.

Deep down, Ben wished that were true, but he knew it wasn't. Still, after what he'd been through, if he couldn't face up to Her Highness then he truly was a coward. Unbuckling his crash webbing, he ran a hand along the paneling as he wandered down the familiar corridor. He was barely aware of his surroundings, but when he caught sight of the Dejarik table in the center lounge he felt a stab of guilt, and his doubts and fears redoubled.

 _I should never have left without her._ He touched the table and gently reached for the bond between them. She seemed calm still. It would be some time before Hux would get the order to bring her to Snoke - and Ben knew without a doubt the order would come - so for the moment, she wasn't in immediate danger.

With that slim reassurance, he made his way down the boarding ramp and into the evening air of D'Qar. There were sparkles of light in the turquoise sky as ships continued to come out of hyperspace and wait for permission to land. All around him, X-wings and other small fighters descended like a flock of enormous birds of prey roosting for the evening.

The beauty of the moment had little effect on him beyond making him wish Rey was there to see it. Chewie and the others disembarked, and while the two gunners gave him curious glances, they quickly left, heading for one of the squat, low buildings before the landing yard.

Chewbacca, however, waited silently. He would stay with Ben, he knew, until Leia found them. He suspected it might be more for Leia's benefit than his own, considering how his last parental reunion had gone. The guilt of that weighed on him, too, on top of everything else.

Movement to his side caught his eye, and he turned to see two figures heading toward them. The first he recognized immediately - it was hard to forget someone whose mind you had plundered, in a way they became part of you - as Commander Poe Dameron. The man jogging beside him seemed familiar as well but was harder to place in the dim light. Just as they came within hailing distance, he placed him as FN-2187, the stormtrooper had deserted and helped Dameron escape.

_And now I am a deserter too. Again._

He watched as the two recognized him - first FN-2187, oddly enough, who tried to grab the pilot's shoulder and missed. But it was only a few more strides before Dameron came up short, the color draining from his face. As the ex-stormtrooper caught up with him and put a hand on Dameron's back, and he seemed to collect himself, glancing between Ben and Chewbacca.

"Where's Rey?" he demanded, a growing suspicion in his expression.

Chewie whined, telling them the truth. Rey had remained behind to make sure the mission was successful.

It seemed to take a moment for the message to sink in. Maybe the Commander's grasp of the Wookie language wasn't the best. FN-2187 didn't appear to understand at all. But the moment that Dameron got it, he let out a cry of inarticulate rage and threw himself at Ben.

His first instinct was to go for his lightsaber, but at the same time, he recognized that the pilot's anger revealed that Rey meant much to him. A friend? Or something more? So it was that Ben didn't even try to defend himself as he was thrown to the ground.

Quickly collecting himself, Dameron rose to his knees and began punching at Ben's face. He tried to dodge the first few swings, but then the words the man was screaming registered and he couldn't find the will to fight back.

"You kriffing left her! How could you?! We all risked our lives for you, for _her_ and you just left her there! You! Absolute! Bastard!!!" His voice was unstrung with the strength of his emotion.

"I assure you that Captain Solo and I were married at the appropriate time," came a steady, if somewhat exasperated voice. "What is the meaning of this, Commander Dameron?"

"General Organa!" FN-2187 said in surprise - obviously he had been too wrapped up in watching the fight to notice her approach. Reaching down, he pulled the pilot off Ben and put a hand to his chest, holding him back.

Looking up, Ben could see the upside-down expressions on his mother's and Chewbacca's faces above him, remarkably alike despite the difference in species. They were familiar expressions: disapproval and doubt.

"Well this seems familiar," Leia joked, echoing his thoughts. "Although usually, you were the one beating someone else senseless."

Groaning, Ben sat up and touched his nose gingerly. His glove came away bloody. "I deserve whatever I have coming where Commander Dameron is concerned," he said, explaining his lack of response.

The pilot made a sound of disgust and turned away. FN-2187 put an arm around him and squeezed gently.

"Be that as it may," Leia went on, "I doubt your previous... encounter is what caused this particular outburst." She paused, looking around. "Where is Rey?" her voice held less suspicion and more dread.

Pushing to his feet, Ben stood to face his mother. "She was caught in a ray shield as we were escaping," he explained. "She insisted that I go on without her, or the mission would be pointless."

There was a moment of quiet, and Ben could tell that each of them was considering his words and weighing the truth of them.

"That sounds like her." To Ben's surprise, the resigned comment came from FN-2187.

Turning, Ben looked at the ex-stormtrooper. Dameron was glaring at him as well, but he just shrugged. "Well, it does. She won't expect anyone to come rescue her, either, but we will."

The air around them became tense, as everyone but FN-2187 realized just how impossible his suggestion was.

"What kind of time frame do we have before she's executed, Commander Ren?" he asked, clearly mentally on-duty.

Ben winced. "Please... don't call me that. It's... I'm Ben. And you are FN-2187, correct?"

A ghost of a smile played over the man's lips. "Finn, now. I'm surprised you remember."

"I remember you failed to follow my order to fire on innocent villagers," he said softly.

Finn's eyebrows shot up, but he didn't deny it.

Taking a deep breath, Ben collected himself. "She won't be executed. Supreme Leader Snoke will want her brought to him, so he can... so he can..." he choked, couldn't bring himself to say the words.

"To make another you," Dameron growled.

Ben nodded once.

Finn looked a little gray but kept his composure. "How long until they head to deep space, then?"

"I don't know," he admitted.

"If I may," Leia cut in, coming to stand an arm's length away from him and facing them all equally, "The Resistance won't be able to rally another extraction mission," she said bluntly.

Ben wavered on his feet, feeling as if his knees might give out. Dameron watched him, his eyes narrowed as he considered the reaction.

"But we have to!" Finn insisted.

The General put up a hand. "We can't, Finn. But, there's still hope. Rey has on her a device which can send coded subspace transmissions the First Order can't trace, so if she goes to Supreme Leader Snoke, she may be able to lead us to him."

Ben shook his head. "They'll take it from her."

Leia glanced at her son. "It's disguised as a talisman-"

"They will take _everything_ from her," he insisted. "And they will be thorough about it."

She glanced to Finn, who nodded with a resigned expression.

Sighing, Leia frowned at the horizon. "Well, she might find another way. The fact remains that we don't have the resources to go after her. She's a Jedi, and she has more than proved in the past that she can take care of herself."

Finn seemed to agree, although he wasn't happy. Commander Dameron, on the other hand, wasn't buying it. He glared at Ben, and he could see the accusation in his eyes. _Didn't help you, did it?_

Ben stared right back. "Rey is significantly more powerful than I am," he admitted shamelessly. "And if she were easily seduced by the Dark Side then she would have turned already. I gave her plenty of opportunity and incentive. Obviously, that backfired rather spectacularly."

Dameron looked away, unable to hold his gaze.

"If you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I need to debrief..." Leia paused, eyeing her son with trepidation, "Operative Solo," she temporized. Turning to him, she ordered crisply, "Follow me."

It was a tone Ben knew well. It meant that he'd screwed up enough that Leia had put aside the role of mother for the time being, and considered him from the realm of her greater responsibilities. It did not brook ignoring.

Just before they entered one of the smaller buildings, Ben glanced behind him. Past Chewbacca he could see the two men. Finn was embracing Dameron, who seemed to be more hanging on to him than standing. It was hard to tell from this distance, but it seemed the pilot might be shaking with sobs.

Turning away, he closed his eyes a moment. _Rey, what have I done? I can't do this without you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the feels! If you like angsty and yet somehow fluffy feels, this is the right path for you (although you can read both versions, if you like!). I don't want to spoil too much, but the advantage of this path is that we get to see more extreme versions of Ben & Rey.
> 
> Anyway, I'm doing these two stories for NaNoWriMo this year, and I've already gotten the next chapter written! Unfortunately my internet BFF t0bemadeofglass who usually betas for me, is also doing NaNo and is quite busy. My husband has offered to beta, but he's not really into Reylo so he takes some... encouragement.
> 
> Still, my ultimate goal is to have these two stories done before the new movie comes out! Such excite!!


	2. Chapter 2

The Stormtroopers led Rey back down into the bowels of the Finalizer. In a way, she was flattered. There were eight of them, just for her, without her lightsaber and in wrist binders. Clearly, they took the threat of her seriously.

After what seemed like an eternity of corridors and lifts, they reached the brig. Rey had a decent grasp of star destroyer architecture, but this one was much larger than any she had ever scavenged. Still, she was fairly certain they were towards the aft of the ship, if nothing else than by the deep thrum of the engines humming all around them.

Once they had passed through a final set of blast doors, they were greeted by a droid which stood at attention beside a series of energy-shielded doors.

"Prisoner transfer to cell block one-one-three-eight," the squadron leader announced.

"Acknowledged," the droid replied. It's designer hadn't been particularly concerned with making it sound human, just intelligible. "Prisoner: proceed into the transfer doorway."

The stormtroopers parted in front of her as the droid pointed towards the energy shields. The first one powered down, opening up a small space that was only large enough for one or two people to stand in. Behind her, the stormtroopers pointed their weapons at her back, although she could tell from the hum that they were set to stun.

Still, she wasn't planning to put up any resistance. She stepped forward into the place the droid had indicated and turned back for further instructions. The energy shield powered back up, tinting the droid and the stormtroopers a lurid red. For one panicked moment, Rey thought that this would be her cell - hardly enough space to even sit and dangerous shields on either side.

But then the shield behind her powered down. From beyond, a droid of the same model barked out another order. "Prisoner: proceed into the processing chamber."

Rey took a few steps forward, finding herself in a long wide hallway with large numbers painted on the walls. The droid trundled over to her and reached around to take hold of both of her wrists before releasing the binders that held them. Without letting go, it transferred her hands to another set of binders than hung from a cable. Glancing up, she could see that the cable ran on a track that went the length of the hallway. The cable retracted until her hands were just above her head.

Task completed, the droid returned to its place next to the far wall. "Prisoner: proceed to station one," it ordered.

Obediently, she walked to stand in front of the corresponding numeral. There were a number of devices that protruded from the walls, and she wasn't entirely sure of the purposes of all of them. As she wondered, one started moving, and a beam of light began to scan her from head to toe. There was a loud beeping sound as the scanner passed her belt pouch and the droid darted forward. One of its many arms took hold of the pouch, while the other snipped the leather of her belt away as if it were only ribbons.

Letting out a sound of protest, Rey turned to look at the droid. A third arm shot out and delivered a mild electric shock to her side.

"Prisoner: Do not move. Electric shocks will increase in intensity with continued disobedience," it warned.

Rey didn't doubt it. She held still so the scanner could finish its work.

"Prisoner: Proceed to station two," the droid announced when it was done.

Her gauze wrap billowing freely around her, Rey did so. This station sprang to life immediately, a series of slender arms reaching out to encircle her, each one pointing inward. Starting at the floor, they emitted a series of red lasers which neatly cut through her shoes but somehow stopped just short of her skin. The lasers moved on upward, splitting her clothes into strips which fell away from her body as they were cut.

It happened so quickly that Rey's first reaction to being suddenly naked was merely to feel cold. When the last of the cloth slipped from her shoulders onto the floor she understood and felt her breath hitch in her throat. The only witness present was the droid, but she could see the cameras in the corners. Doubtless, there were others watching from afar.

Still, she held her head high and refused to be embarrassed by her own body. When the droid ordered, "Prisoner: Proceed to station three," she carefully stepped out of the ruins of her clothing and on to the next spot. This one had a ring in the floor, and footprints marking where she should place her feet. They were very large, and her bare feet looked tiny in comparison.

The ring in the floor rose up and began to spin. Another beam of light scoured her skin, but this one she could feel. It was like using the sonics in the 'fresher, but much more intense. Her skin buzzed, and where the laser passed her skin itched a little. She glanced down as it reached the apex of her thighs - that stung rather worse - and saw what exactly it was: a depilinator. The short thatch of curls disappeared as the line of yellow light passed, leaving smooth, if somewhat reddened skin behind.

The depilinator continued upward, and Rey began to worry when it would stop. As it drew closer to her neck, her breathing accelerated rapidly. "No, wait, please..." she said, unable to stop herself. "Please don't!"

But the droid didn't listen. The depilinator continued its relentless path, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck as they were severed from her scalp. Screwing her eyes shut, she fought against the rush of tears that welled up in her eyes. The laser stung on her eyelids - not even her eyelashes were spared - and at last, she could hold back no longer. Tears streamed down her face, and a high keening sound escaped from her throat. She fought against the sobs that shook her body, trying desperately to hold still.

As the depilinator passed the crown of her head, the last of her buns slipped over her shoulder and onto the floor. They lay there, still bound, looking like the brown kelp that washed up on the shores of Ach-To. 

"Prisoner: Proceed to station four," the droid announced.

Rey couldn't move. What further horrors were before her? There were three more stations to endure.

A sharp shock to her bare thigh made her jump, and she found herself moving forward, dragged by the cable that held her arms aloft.

"Electric shocks will increase in intensity with continued disobedience," the droid reminded her.

Shaking, Rey came to stand at the fourth station, on top of a panel perforated with many small holes. At first, nothing happened. Then a sudden deluge of cold water rained down on her. She sputtered and choked, struggling to breathe. The water on her bare scalp seemed twice as cold, and she began to shiver. After what felt like an eternity, the water suddenly stopped.

However, her relief was momentary, as this was followed by a series of jets pounding down extremely hot water tinged with some kind of antiseptic that stung in her eyes and tasted nasty. She quickly closed her mouth and tried to breathe through her nose, but it didn't help much.  When the jets stopped and the cold rain returned, she was almost grateful.

"Prisoner: Proceed to station five."

Shaking hard, Rey struggled to put one foot in front of the other. This station also had footprints marked out, but they were much farther apart. It was a bit of a stretch for her, and she felt incredibly vulnerable, naked and bald and dripping wet. As soon as she managed, two rods extended from the floor near her feet, and manacles at the end of them clamped her in place.

"W-What's station five?" Rey asked.

She didn't really expect the droid to answer, but it did. "Cavity search." It said simply.

The next few minutes were some of the most uncomfortable in Rey's memory. It didn't hurt, precisely, as long as she held perfectly still, but the probes were cold and metallic and went far further than she felt was really necessary. A droid the size and shape of a large spider with a bright light at its center was shoved into her mouth, where it carefully probed every tooth and around her tongue. She felt as though she might pass out, or throw up.

But then, it ended. The probes withdrew, and the spider droid let out a beep and left her mouth as well. The manacles released her legs, but she found she couldn't stand anymore. Her knees buckled and she hung suspended from her arms.

"Prisoner: Proceed to station six," the droid said anyway.

Rey didn't move, except to sob softly. Not until the crackle of electricity, this time applied to the underside of her arm, made her scream and writhe in pain. Somehow, she managed to get her feet underneath of her, and half scrambled, half slid along to the final station. Her mind refused to process what could be coming.

The droid approached and released her wrists from the binders. To her surprise, it left her free. Not that it did her much good, she collapsed into a pile on the floor and laid there, shaking. A sound of mechanical whirring came from the wall next to her, and she jerked into a protective ball, staring at it in horror.

A rectangle opened in the wall, and a small platform extended. On it were a pair of canvas shoes and a pile of folded cloth. "Prisoner: Dress quickly."

With shaking hands, Rey reached out and drew the clothes to her. A very plain pair of underwear and an elastic binder lay atop a scratchy grey bag that seemed to be something like a dress. She pulled them on as best she could, and shoved the shoes onto her feet.

"Prisoner: Proceed to transfer doorway." At the end of the hall, there was another set of energy shields. The first one powered down.

Rey tried to comply, she really did. But she couldn't seem to get her legs in order, and her balance seemed strangely off. Eventually, the droid lost patience and zapped her in the back. This time, she lost consciousness for a moment. When the convulsions passed, she lay limp on the floor, no longer even able to shake.

"The Prisoner is incapacitated," the droid announced.

From the corner of her eye, Rey saw the second energy shield drop. Three stormtroopers came through. Two grabbed her arms, and the third kept his weapon trained on her at all times. Smart, but unnecessary. Rey was dragged through the transfer doorway and down another long hallway. Even here, the floors gleamed black, she realized. Her wet, hairless legs slid along them easily, and she wondered distantly if someone would have to mop up after her, or if a droid would do it. Probably a droid.

The stormtroopers turned a corner into an open cell door, dragged her in, and dropped her where she lay. They then exited the cell and slammed the door behind her.

Weak as a newborn erdu kitten, Rey raised her head to look around. The cell was fashioned entirely of black duristeel and featured only a low bench and a minimal relief station. Slowly, with the very last of her energy, she pulled herself up onto the bench and curled up into a ball.

<Ben,> she thought weakly. She knew he was long gone by now, and probably couldn't hear her. She knew this was for the best, had been the whole purpose of her mission. But some small, lonely, selfish part of her wished that he had stayed to protect her. <Ben, why did you leave me?>

* * *

 

"Operative Solo? ...Hello? .......Ben?"

Ben shook his head. "Sorry." He rubbed his eyes a moment. "I was a million parsecs away."

Leia leaned back in her chair, looking dubious. The handful of other officials at the table shifted uneasily but deferred to the General. "You were in the middle of telling us about the supply shipment to Corellia and then you just... stopped," a young woman explained.

"I... I'm sorry. I got distracted." He had thought, for a moment, that Rey was calling out for him. All he wanted was to sleep so he could go to her, but this was important, too. He needed to prove to the Resistance that his defection was genuine by giving them as much useful information as possible. And he needed to prove to his mother... well, he wasn't sure what it was exactly that he needed to prove. Something vital.

"It's late," Leia temporized, checking the chronometer on the wall. "Or early. And I doubt the First Order has failed to notice your defection, so they'll probably make changes to anything you were privy to."

A wry smile crossed his lips. "That would be a lot of changes." He couldn't help but feel a streak of petulant satisfaction at the knowledge that he had probably given General Hux one hell of a headache.

"Either way, you'll likely be more useful for tactical advice moving forward," an older Pantoran gentleman elaborated.

He nodded. "I can do that."

Running a hand over his pale violet face, the Pantoran sighed. "Alright, I'm satisfied that he's genuine, General. What about you, Commander Teila?"

Teila nodded. "I recommend that we keep him under close surveillance for the time being."

Leia nodded and turned to face Ben. "That seems fair to me."

Ben had to suppress the urge to laugh bitterly. Grounded again, he thought to himself. "If it makes you more comfortable, I'd be willing to stay in the brig."

The General looked to the ceiling. "That won't be necessary," she drawled. "Shall we convene tomorrow... or rather, later today?" she suggested.

The Pantoran nodded, while Teila tapped it into her personal datapad. They moved away from the table, clearly dismissed.

Ben and Leia stayed, saying nothing. He could feel her eyes on him, studying him, but he couldn't seem to meet her eye. Instead, his gaze fell to his lightsaber, which had sat on the table throughout the debriefing. After a while, Leia seemed to notice, and picked it up, turning it over in her hands.

"I don't know much about lightsabers," she admitted. "But this seems rather... unconventional."

"The kyber crystal cracked when it attuned to me," Ben explained. He had always worried it had mirrored some flaw in himself. Now, he wondered if the pressure of trying to be something he was not had done it. "I used an ancient design to help vent the extra heat it produces."

She nodded, turning it over. "And the external wires?"

"The modulator kept shorting out because of the heat. So I altered the design."

Smiling faintly, she set it down.

"It doesn't... bother you?" he asked. He was never sure how sensitive his mother was in the Force.

"You mean the Darkness in it?" she asked, but didn't wait for an answer. "No. It's well attuned to you, in that way. No, if anything, it almost makes me think of the Falcon, old and patched-together, full of improvisations to make it run better."

Ben felt his stomach drop out, the guilt of Han's death weighing as heavily on him as it did the moment he had done it. He needed to say something to her, anything...

"You know, he almost convinced me," he murmured.

Leia froze. It was nothing obvious, but he felt it.

"For one moment, I believed him. That I could walk away from it, and go back."

After a very long pause, she asked, "What happened?"

He shook his head. "I panicked. I couldn't... I couldn't just throw away everything I had worked for." His fists clenched on the table. "And it just... just occurred to me." Suddenly the words came rushing out, and he couldn't stop them. "It took less than a thought to press the activator.  I thought it would prove something, that it would make me stronger.... It was supposed to feel like a victory, like I'd finally freed myself from this life, but it didn't! It felt wrong, and sick, and it hurt! Why did I do that, Mother? Why??"

Leia stood suddenly, and for one heartwrenching moment, Ben thought she would leave. Instead, she came around the table and embraced him, pulling his head against her chest. He didn't even realize he was crying until the sobs started to wrack his body. He clung to her, to the achingly familiar smell and feel of her. She stroked a hand over his hair rhythmically as she had done when he had awoken from a nightmare as a child.

He felt very much the same as he had then: lost, shaken, and confused. But this time, he knew, it wasn't just a dream. The horrors were real, and he had done them himself.

"Oh, Ben." Leia pressed her cheek to the top of his head, and he could feel that she had been crying as well. "What did Snoke do to you?"

He pulled away, shuddering. "I... I can't talk about it yet," he admitted, scrubbing at his face.

Leia produced a cloth for him to wipe away his tears with. Some instincts never died, it seemed. "It's okay. You should sleep now, dear. Rey will want to see you, I'm sure."

Ben glanced up sharply, and she chuckled. "Yes, I know how you two have been communicating. Let me show you to your quarters."

Fortunately, the meeting had already been held in one of the barracks. The room she led him to was small and simple: a cot to sleep in, a table and chair, a sink and some shelves above it. But there was a window, and the furnishings were in warm colors. The cot looked as inviting as a giant repulsorlift bed.

"Go to her," Leia said, patting his back affectionately. "She needs you, I think."

Ben nodded. He could feel it, too, a pulling at the bond that could no longer be ignored. He stared down at his mother, such a small woman for so imposing a personality. He didn't know what to say.

After a moment, she smiled, obviously also at a loss. "Goodnight, Ben," she said instead.

"Goodnight... mother." The term felt strange somehow, it seemed to claim something of her that he had no right to. But it made her eyes light up just a little, so that made it worthwhile.

He closed the door, and fell asleep the moment he collapsed on the cot, not even bothering to take off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the WORST time writing this chapter. The idea of Rey losing her hair came to me early on, but I didn't like it. I tried desperately to fight against it - trying to think of reasons she could keep it, or just making that not part of the process. But then I watched V for Vendetta on the fifth, and Thor: Ragnarok when it came out, both featuring a scene where the character is forced to lose their hair (although Thor plays it for laughs). I finally surrendered to the idea.
> 
> But actually writing it, putting Rey through that, was really hard. You'd think I'd be okay with killing (or at least torturing) my darlings, but this really hit me in a strange place. 
> 
> Anyway, I'm hoping that now I'm past it, this path will be easier to write!


	3. Chapter 3

Ben was pulled down into the familiar embrace of Rey's dream. It was always easier than doing it himself, like coming home. This time, though, as the dream resolved into something resembling reality, something felt off.

First of all, it was a location he wasn't terribly familiar with. Stone walls surrounded him, thick and ancient. There were stacks of odds and ends crammed into the dark room, lit only by a shaft of light from a narrow gap in the stone high above. He thought he'd seen it once before, when Rey was planning her lightsaber.

"Rey?" he called out.

There was a sniffling sound to his right, and he turned, trying to find its source.

"Hey Ben," came the reply. Her voice was shaky, a badly executed attempt at levity. "How are you?"

"I'm... I'm fine," he bumped against a stack of droid parts, and a few of them tumbled to the ground. He froze, holding his hands out as that could stop the rest from tumbling over. When he was confident it wouldn't topple, he moved on through the maze of junk. "Are you okay? I thought I heard you call to me." There was a long pause. He tried to sense her feelings through the bond, but found only a mess of confusion. "Rey, where are you?"

"What took you so long?" she asked in a small voice. To his surprise, she was only a few feet away from him, to his right. He couldn't see her properly in the dim light, the only window was behind and above her.

"I'm so sorry, Rey. The debrief ran very late..." He reached for her, but felt her flinch when he touched her. "What's wrong, why won't you let me see you?"

Another sniffle. "It's stupid. It's nothing, really, I don't know why I'm so upset about it."

"It's not stupid, Rey, whatever it is has upset you. Tell me." Inside, Ben was starting to panic. Surely Snoke hadn't already sent orders to begin the testing? Even then, it would have taken them time to reach the facility....

"My hair..." she squeaked, as if she couldn't quite get it out. She shifted, tilting her head down to bury her face in her hands, and he saw what had been off about her silhouette - she was bald.

"Oh, sweetheart..." Ben found a spot next to her on the chest she was perched on and sat down, pulling her into his arms. "I'm so sorry. I'd forgotten that part of First Order prisoner processing."

Rey sniffled in his arms a moment, and he felt the front of his tunic begin to grow wet. "They didn't shave Poe's hair."

Ben smiled grimly and pressed his cheek to the top of her smooth head. "No. Commander Dameron wasn't processed because he wasn't going to be in long-term incarceration. Once I had extracted any useful information from him, he would have been executed."

"Oh," she said softly. "There were other things... worse things. I've had a pretty bad day." She gave a watery chuckle. "Why is this what bothers me the most?" she touched the back of her head, cautiously, as if it might hurt.

He frowned, thinking. Ben knew exactly what worse things she was talking about. "Your hair was... very distinctive," he reasoned. "Sort of part of who you are. The other things were bad, but they're over. This is something they took from you."

She paused a moment in her sniffles, thinking it over. Then she nodded and snuggled harder against him. He held her a long time, rocking her gently. He was worried - if this upset her so badly, he was concerned how she would weather the coming trials. He should probably tell her what to expect, once she'd calmed down a little.

"I should never have left," he said out loud. "I should have stayed to protect you."

Rey lifted her head a little. The room had lightened a bit, and he could make out her features. She had dark circles under her eyes, and looked strangely alien with no eyebrows. "You had to, though, that was the whole point of the mission."

Ben snorted. "Commander Dameron would beg to differ."

She sighed heavily and leaned her forehead against his shoulder. "I really messed up, Ben. Poe didn't want to go, and I convinced him to. Told him I needed him there in case you betrayed me."

He raised his eyebrows. "That... explains a lot."

Looking up at him again, she wiped the tears from her face. "What happened?"

"He kind of lost it when he found out you were still on board the _Finalizer_. Did a number on my face, before my mother showed up and Finn dragged him off," he explained.

Rey blinked rapidly, although she seemed more surprised at his ease in calling Leia his mother than what had happened. "Are you okay?"

He shrugged. "Not my first fist fight, by a long shot, and I had it coming where Dameron is concerned."

One side of her forehead lifted, where her eyebrow would have been. "Is Poe okay?"

Ben gave a hollow laugh. "I didn't fight back. But no, he seemed pretty upset. Were you two...." he paused. "close?"

Now it was Rey's turn to give an insincere chuckle. "No, not like you mean. He's got it bad for Finn, and I think they're together now? It kind of happened right before the mission."

He replayed the events since his arrival on D'Qar mentally, the puzzle pieces clicking into place. "Uh... yeah. I would say that's probably the case."

She gave a long sigh. "Well, at least they have each other."

The two sat holding each other, together but not, and took what solace they could.

* * *

 

Ben awoke to the sound of his door chiming. He sat up slowly, momentarily disoriented by the unfamiliar surroundings, the sun shining in his window. The door chimed again, and he stumbled to answer it. The chronometer indicated he'd only gotten about 5 hours of sleep, and most of that had been spent preparing Rey for what was to come.

When the door opened, he was surprised to find the former stormtrooper now known as Finn waiting with a stack of cloth. "Brought you some clothes," he said without preamble. "I'm gonna be your babysitter today."

Ben took the clothes cautiously. "Did you draw the short stick?"

To his surprise, Finn grinned, his teeth showing white against his skin. "Nope. Volunteered."

Ben wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he just said, "Be right out," and closed the door. He changed quickly into a pair of standard issue fatigues: loose camouflage pants and a fitted black shirt. He felt a little naked without his lightsaber, but there was nothing to be done for it. He pulled his own boots back on, and ran a quick hand through his hair in front of the small mirror.

His reflection seemed like that of a stranger. Only the scar across his face stood to remind him that he'd been a monster in a mask for years now. Pushing the thought aside, he opened the door once more and gestured that Finn should lead the way.

As they made their way to the mess hall, it was impossible to miss the way people stared at him and whispered to their companions. He had no expectation of anonymity, had grown up as the child of two celebrities and was somewhat used to attention from strangers, but this was someone else. Were they discussing how many of their own had died in yesterday's mission? How many he'd killed? Or how he'd left Rey behind?

"So why volunteer?" he asked Finn. He didn't really want to know, but he had to distract himself somehow. "Considering I tried to kill you. Actually, I thought I had killed you."

Finn shrugged, although the movement looked a little stiff. "I tried to kill you right back, and spent a lot of time in a stasis chamber." He looked thoughtful a moment. "It feels like a lifetime ago, really. I partly volunteered because I think it's practical," he explained. "I know how the First Order works, and therefore how the Resistance is different, so I know how best to explain it. Plus, I've worked with you before, briefly..." he cleared his throat. "The General is busy - General Organa, that is - so I volunteered." The specter of General Hux hung between them briefly, and Ben pushed it away roughly.

"Makes sense," Ben agreed. "And the other part?"

Finn shrugged and looked away. "For Rey," he said simply. When Ben said nothing, he went on. "I trust her, and if she trusts you..." he made a helpless gesture. "I'm at least willing to give you a chance. She gave me one."

Ben nodded. "She is... extraordinarily giving, isn't she?"

This brought a smile to Finn's face. "Yeah. She's great."

He felt a stab of jealousy - not that he found Finn a romantic rival, although he might have without Rey's revelation the night before - but because of the friendship he'd enjoyed with Rey. It would have been nice to have something that wasn't as twisted and dysfunctional as all his relationships seemed to be.

They made it to the mess hall, and Finn guided him through the lines. He made sure to tell Ben how excited Rey had been when she saw the "amazing variety" of food available - there were three entrees to choose from. That made Ben smile a little, and he found himself warming to the young man. How, he wondered, had someone this nice come out of Hux's brutal training program?

They ate in a companionable silence, as Ben tried to ignore the stares and whispers from others.The food was good - made from real meats and vegetables, probably locally sourced. He hadn't even realized how tired he'd grown of synthetic nutrients.

After breakfast, Finn led him to another building where Ben would undergo further interrogation about his knowledge of the First Order. Finn would be part of the conversation too. Even though he'd already delivered all of his limited intel to the Resistance, he could at least corroborate Ben's and give further insight.

They were led to a small conference room, privately secluded and without a mirrored wall or any visible cameras. It seemed soundproofed, too, as the noise and bustle faded away as they stepped inside.

"General Organa is on her way, and a few others will be joining you shortly," said the corporal who let them into the room. "Please make yourself comfortable." She smiled at Finn, although it faltered a bit when she looked up at Ben.

He tried to smile back, but it didn't seem to work.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, waiting. Ben tried to feel for his bond with Rey, probing at it like a sore tooth. Finn didn't fidget, his training still evidently standing him in good stead.

After a while, though, he leaned back and stared at Ben with a serious expression. "Can I ask you an intensely personal question?"

Ben raised an eyebrow. "Okay?"

"I wouldn't ask for myself, but...." he cleared his throat. "Rey said... she told Poe that what you did to him, and her, that it had been done to you... a lot."

Now it was Ben's turn to sit back. "She said that?"

"I mean, I think she only said it to make Poe go on the mission. I don't think she would have told us that otherwise," he scrambled to explain.

"And you want to know if it's true or if she made it up?" he guessed.

Finn rubbed the back of his head. "I don't think... that is, Rey's not the kind of person to make stuff like that up. But Poe doesn't know her that well."

Ben nodded. He chewed his lip, thinking how he wanted to approach this topic.

At that moment, Leia stepped into the room. She paused, obviously sensing the tension in the room. "Am I interrupting something?" she asked seriously.

"Uh, no, General, we were just--" Fin scrambled to seem casual.

"It's alright," Ben said quietly, silencing him. "She needs to know this, too, and I'd rather I only had to talk about it once."

Leia pulled out a chair, next to him this time, and sat. "I thought there might be a few things you wanted to discuss privately, so I gave Senator Rakto and Lieutenant Teila a later time for this meeting."

Ben nodded. "Finn was asking me to confirm something Rey had told him and Commander Dameron, about Snoke's use of mind invasion in my training."

To his surprise, Ben felt a strong flare of anger from his mother. It quickly subsided, but it was quite possibly the darkest emotion he'd ever felt in her presence. "Luke mentioned that as well," she said, falsely casual.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yes, it's true. Supreme Leader Snoke would, as part of my training, regularly invade my mind and... sift through the contents."

Finn swore softly and looked away.

"This much I was aware of. However, it wasn't until recently I realized that he'd also been tampering with my memories. He... he took pieces of me he didn't like and... locked them away," he explained.

"How did you find out?" Finn asked softly.

"Rey did. She apparently had access to some of them I didn't, through the bond. When she mentioned something I didn't remember, she put it together." He wasn't yet ready to discuss the ghosts of his grandparents. Leia might understand, but Finn would probably think he was crazy.

"When did this start?" Leia asked. She seemed to be perched on the edge of something, full of barely-concealed tension.

"Shortly after I began to train with Uncle Luke," he admitted. "It opened my mind to the Force, and made me accessible to Snoke."

"But why didn't you tell Luke, then?" Finn asked.

Ben swallowed. "Snoke told me things about the Force that Luke wouldn't. Training Luke said I wasn't ready for. He also told me that if Luke found out, he'd reject me as his apprentice. So I hid it."

Beside him, Leia let out a long breath as if she'd been holding it. She put one elbow on the table and covered her eyes briefly. Finn stared at his lap, uncomfortable with the obvious display of emotion from the usually stoic General Organa.

When she lifted her head, Leia put her hand over Ben's where it rested on the table. "Can you ever forgive me?" she asked.

Ben balked, his mouth falling open. "Forgive _you_?" he asked.

"I failed you, as a parent. I was too wrapped up in my work. I knew Han wasn't much of a father to you, and I should have picked up the slack. But instead, I dumped you on Luke, who knew even less about how to be a parent," she explained.

Ben shook his head. "Mother, I was nineteen! Hardly a child," he pointed out.

"It doesn't matter. The mistakes I made before that are part of what made you vulnerable to Snoke. And I don't stop being your mother just because you turn a certain age."

Ben turned over the thought in his head. He'd always considered his choice to turn to the Dark just that, a choice. But now, in hindsight, he could see that maybe his choice had been unfairly influenced. Still...

"I'm not willing to pass the blame for my actions to anyone else. Maybe there were factors that made it easier for me to fall to the Dark, and some of the things I did early on in my training with Snoke were done... against my will, to a certain degree. But there were other things I did which I fully enjoyed," he admitted.

"Like what?" Finn asked. Up to this point, he had been silent and unobtrusive. "Did you enjoy ordering the death of those villagers?"

Despite the challenge in his voice, Ben considered the question seriously. "I didn't feel anything when I gave that order," he admitted. "And I regret it now. But..." He glanced sideways at Leia. "I did enjoy killing Lor San Tekka."

His mother frowned. "He was a good friend to our family, Ben."

Ben snorted. "He was a pompous, arrogant jerk. Convinced that he understood the universe better than anyone but the oh-so-holy Jedi. Do you know what he said to me once, when he was visiting Luke?"

Leia shook her head.

"He said that my Grandfather had brought much suffering to the galaxy when he destroyed the Jedi, and therefore it was my responsibility to dedicate myself wholly to my training, so I could undo what he had done."

His mother grimaced. "That's... a lot to put on someone."

Shaking his head, Ben sighed. "It's what everyone expected of me, he just said it out loud. That was the greatest appeal of the Dark - I felt like I could make my own choices, even if I was wrong. I didn't have to be perfect, to live up to everyone's expectations. When I lost control, people weren't disappointed, they were afraid!"

Finn bit his lip hard, obviously suppressing a smile.

"What?" Ben demanded.

"Don't get me wrong," Finn said quickly. "Nobody wanted to be there when you lost your temper, that shit was scary. But there were a lot of... inside jokes among the rank and file about it."

Ben deflated, his anger draining away. "What?"

"Yeah. I mean, if one of the Sergeants reamed out a trainee, or a trooper broke something, we'd joke that they'd 'gone Kylo' for a minute. There was a pool to see how long you'd last between fits." He lost the battle against his grin and let it show.

"Oh." Ben suddenly felt very foolish.

"I know what you mean, though," Finn added, the smile fading away. "When I defected, I killed a bunch of troopers. People I'd trained with, day in and day out, for most of my life. They didn't care about me, and it was really satisfying to... I don't know, prove them wrong. And I had way too much fun making Phasma go down the trash chute."

"You made... Captain Phasma go down a... a trash chute?" Ben asked.

"Yup," Finn said, smiling. "I mean, she probably got out, but probably not soon enough to get off the planet."

"That was Han's idea, wasn't it?" Leia asked, a sad smile on her face.

"Yeah," Finn agreed. "He seemed weirdly enthusiastic about it too."

Ben and Leia glanced at each other, sharing a world of grief and memory. Before they could explain, though, the Senator and the Lieutenant arrived.

"Oh, are we late?" the Pantoran Senator asked.

"No, we've just been chatting," Leia explained. But the change in her demeanor was clear: she had slid back into the role of General.

Ben took a deep breath, and got back to the business of being a traitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a hard time writing Finn in this chapter, I think he may come across as genuinely being kind. I mean, he fooled Rey into thinking he was a member of the Resistance, but she was a smidge gullible. That said, I feel like he would be able to empathize enough to see something of himself in Ben, if given the chance. But he definitely has some ulterior motives here.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I haven't posted in a while because I haven't been able to run the chapters through Grammarly or have them beta'd. So have a couple chapters, and please forgive me for any errors and my profligate use of commas.

Rey finished eating the bland, lukewarm gruel the guards had slid through the slot in the bottom of her door. She licked the bowl clean, and then slid it back under. If she didn't eat quickly, she discovered that morning, then a high, piercing sound would play loudly in her cell until she turned the bowl back in. This time, though, she kept the spoon.

She heard the clank of the guard's boots as she came to pick it up. A shielded window opened in the door, revealing a black-and-white mask. "Where's the spoon?" the guard asked.

Focusing, Rey gestured with two fingers. "You didn't give me a spoon," she said, putting the weight of the Force behind the suggestion.

"I didn't give you a spoon," the trooper repeated. "Serves you right, Resistance scum." The guard slammed the window shut and went along her way.

Rey sighed, relaxing. The spoon would make a poor improvised weapon, as the duristeel walls and floor of her cell were too smooth to grind it into a blade. But the spoon was soft enough that it left a mark. Standing on the ledge that served as her bed, she stood on her tiptoes and made two marks high in the shadows - one for today, one for yesterday. She then hid the spoon in the farthest corner under the ledge, hoping that would be safe enough. She could always get another one, she supposed.

The worst part was the waiting. At least on Jakku, she'd had the struggle to survive to fill her days, but here... she didn't know how long she'd be forced to wait. She almost looked forward to the testing Ben had told her about, as terrifying as it sounded. Anything but this interminable wait.

She tried meditating. Then she excercised for a while, practicing her lightsaber forms in the small space with empty hands. She did strength-building tasks that a female pilot had taught her ages ago, when she was still a little girl, sit-ups, push-ups, squats and the like.

Rey had almost forgotten the pilot, but now she remembered. The woman was short and stocky, and had boasted the largest biceps she'd ever seen on a female. When she had stared in admiration, the pilot had been flattered, taking a shine to the young scavenger. She struck a deal that Rey would fix her ship, and in return she'd give her a few supplies and teach her how to become strong.

"This place is rough," the pilot had told her, "but space is rougher. If you ever get off planet, you'll need to be strong. Doubly so, since you're a girl and people will think they can take advantage of you."

Rey had done the exercises in her AT-AT lair after dark. Her baby fat had long since melted away in the face of hunger, but she was a lanky, stringy thing. She had to be careful - doing the exercises meant she got hungrier. But any time she'd been lucky enough to land a really excellent sale and save up her portions, she made the effort to turn some of it into muscle.

Here, even though the food was flavorless it was still more filling than portions. She'd have plenty of nutrients, and she needed to be strong for what was coming. Eventually she exhausted herself, and curled up on the ledge to sleep, her cooling sweat making her shiver.

She slept fitfully, reaching for Ben almost automatically. He was awake, so she only got flashes of images, things he was seeing. She recognized Leia, and Finn. Ben was upset, weighed down with guilt at his choice to leave her, on top of his earlier sins. She clung to him as long as she could, but eventually her body woke her up once more.

It was hard, to see them all together like that. When she had told Ben to go, she hadn't realized how hard it would be for her to be left behind again.

These melancholy thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her cell door being opened. Three guards entered, two with weapons drawn and the third with wrist binders already in her hands. Rey, glad for a change of pace, immediately stood and held out her hands.

The trooper made a sound that might have been a snort. "Behind your back," she ordered.

Rey turned around, and let the trooper put the binders on. She took her by the arm, and one of the other troopers stowed his weapon and took the other. The third followed them out of the cell, weapon trained on her back.

They took her in the opposite direction of the processing center, for which she was immensely grateful. The room they took her to was small, and contained only a table, two chairs, and a mirror on the wall. Rey had seen rooms like this on D'Qar, they were used for interrogation. She was pushed into the chair, and her wrist binders affixed to the table. The guard with a weapon took up a post in the corner, and the other two left.

Rey stared at the mirror, shocked by the sight of her reflection. She hardly recognized herself without her hair, and there were dark shadows under her eyes. It took her a moment to realize it was because of the injury to her nose. But as strange as she appeared, the more she looked the more she became at peace with it. She looked fierce, all of her softness cut away.

And then she sensed something behind her reflection, and remembered that the mirror only went one way. Someone was watching her, waiting... for what? She reached out with the Force, but really didn't need to. There was only one person on this ship who had any interest in her.

"You know, I haven't anything better to do, General Hux. I could wait here all day. But I imagine you're a busy man and you must have better things to do," she said to the mirror.

A flash of irritation brushed against her extended senses, and then she felt his presence move away. _Well, he's easy to piss off,_ she mused, hardly surprised. She was a bit startled, though, when the door to her right opened up and he walked in. The stormtrooper stood a bit straighter, obviously just as taken unawares as she had been.

The General came to stand behind the other chair and put his hands on the back of it, but did not sit. He stared at her, blue eyes boring into her as if he could make her talk with that alone.

"Supreme Leader Snoke has ordered that you are to be tested," he said ominously.

"At the facility on Mustafar?" Rey said archly. "Yes, I know." She hadn't really known until his expression at her naming the planet confirmed it. But it was what Ben said would likely happen. Better if he overestimated her powers, though. "Was that all you came down here to tell me?"

His nostrils flared, and his grip on the chair tightened. "No. RK-3489, wait outside the door."

The trooper turned toward them, hesitating.

"That was an order, RK-3489," he ground out.

"Yes sir," the trooper hustled to obey, scrambling out of the door and shutting it once more.

Rey hid a wave of anxiety as the door closed. She didn't know this man, wasn't sure what he would do without supervision or why he'd asked the trooper to leave. The sudden memory of Kylo telling her that rape was against First Order interrogation procedure did little to help. She watched him carefully as he pulled out the chair and sat on it, resting his folded hands on the table in a mirror of her own position.

"I believe you mentioned you had some information of interest to me," he said in a low voice.

_Right. Leora. So that's what this is about_. Rey tried to hide her relief, as it would give away her anxiety. "Yes. Although I'm not sure why you think I'm going to tell it to you now."

He sat back a bit. "Well, as long as the Supreme Leader has interest in you, execution is off the table. I thought you might be willing to give a few details, and in return, I'll see that your time spent aboard the Finalizer is a bit more... comfortable."

Rey let out a bitter laugh. "You should have thought of that before you cut off all my hair," she bit out, pointing to her head. "Lost a damn good bargaining chip, there."

"Hmm, yes. A pity, that," he eyed her critically. "But it will grow back. In the meantime, are there any other amenities that you would care to trade for?"

Rey scowled. He knew her background, and sought to speak her language. She wasn't prepared to tell him everything, she needed to keep something behind to keep herself safe. Therefore, she couldn't ask for anything too extravagant. She shifted against the chair, the cold metal biting into her skin where the scratchy tunic didn't quite cover it.

"I would like some warmer clothes," she admitted. "I come from a very warm planet, and space is cold."

He nodded. "That can be arranged. Anything else?"

Rey debated asking for the talisman back that would allow her to communicate with the Resistance, but judged that would be showing her hand. She shook her head.

"Really? I thought for certain you'd ask for better food. The nutrient paste is terrible," he drawled.

She blinked. Was he... trying to joke with her? "Better than what I grew up on," she replied.

"Suit yourself," he tugged at the cuffs of his uniform jacket, straightening them as though they weren't already perfect. "Answer one question, and I'll see that you're provided with more substantial clothing."

Rey raised her eyebrows. "I'm game."

He pressed his lips together. "What I seek, is it... intact and in a secure location?"

Technically, that was two questions, but Rey wasn't going to push it. She could tell this was a test, to see if she really knew or was just bluffing. "Ulyt is taking good care of the child," she said softly, "and they are safe."

A rush of air left Hux's lips, as if he had been holding his breath. Rey was struck with the realization that this meant far more to him than she had realized. She was glad - it meant she held more power than she knew. But it also surprised her, it seemed incongruous with the cruel, exacting image she'd formed of him.

He stood suddenly, pushing in his chair. He stared down at her a moment, considering her. "You seem much more reasonable than Kylo Ren," he commented. "I think we might actually come to a workable understanding. If you survive the tests."

Rey held his gaze, unintimidated. "I'm stronger than I look," she told him.

"I certainly hope so," he said ominously, and then left.

The stormtroopers came back in and escorted her back to her cell. They left her there alone, but after only short time a bundle of black fabric was shoved under the door. Rey scrambled to pick it up, shaking out the clothes. They were a simple black shirt and pants, much like what Finn had worn when she first met him. There was also a microfiber blanket and a small, thin pillow.

It was far more than she had asked for, and Rey couldn't help a smile as she pulled on the new clothes. Hux had proved that he didn't know the first rule of trading: only pay for what you get. As long as she didn't run out of details to share, Hux would be easy to manage.

Wrapping the blanket around her shoulders, she sat on the pillow and prepared to meditate again. Her mind was in a much better place, and she must prepare herself for the testing. She could feel the ship hum beneath her as the hyperdrive engaged, sending the ship hurtling through hyperspace. Soon, she would have to prove herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have way too much fun writing Hux.


	5. Chapter 5

Rey strode down the ramp of the transport they had taken planet-side, and suddenly regretted her new, warmer clothes. As far as the eye could see, Mustafar stretched out in fields and rivers of lava, black mountains sprouting up like sharp teeth on the horizon. The facility they approached looked almost to be made of lava itself, black stone towering above her.

The unit of storm troopers surrounding her led her into the front of the castle-like building, a wide, long hallway that felt like a mouth that was swallowing her. The impression was strengthened when a vertical door opened up, the edges interlocking like square, blunt molars.

She was greeted by an officer in a white uniform. He took a datapad from the sargeant, glanced over it, and then looked up to scrutinize Rey. "It's been a long time since we had a potential to test," he commented. "Let's hope you're worth the trouble."

Rey just stared back at him. Thanks to Ben, she had a pretty good idea what was coming, and it was not going to be fun.

When he got no response, the officer shook his head, and turned to lead them deeper into the facility. Eventually they reached a door that actually swung outward, rather than opening from either side. It also featured a wheel for a handle, which he turned several times before the door swung open on it's hinges.

Most of the stormtroopers gave way to a couple technicians, but  the sargeant and one other trooper followed her into the room too. It was white, and brightly lit, with drains in the floor and manacles hanging down from the ceiling, another pair laying ready on the floor. One entire wall was a sheet of thick, transparent plasteel, and she could see a team of scientists seated at a variety of stations on the other side.

"Please remove your clothing," one of the technicians, an older woman said.

Trying not to feel embarrassed, Rey took off her clothes and handed them to her. The other technician, a tall young man, took hold of one of her arms and lifted it to be snapped into the manacles. She almost had to stand on her tiptoes to reach it. Once both her arms were secured, he bent to do the same with her ankles. His touch was impersonal, and he paid no mind to her nudity. For that much, at least she was grateful.

Once her legs had been secured, the chains holding her wrists began to retract into the ceiling, until she hung from them and the chains on her ankles were taut. It hurt her wrists terribly. "How long will this test take?" she asked, wriggling against her bonds.

"Not long," the older woman told her, and then exited the room with all the others.

As soon as the door was sealed, water began to pour into the room from the ceiling. Ben had told her it would be cold, but when it first touched her feet she let out a cry of surprise. It was freezing! Not even the waters of Ach-To had been this cold during her brief swimming lessons Luke had insisted on giving her. By the time the water had reached her waist, her feet were already starting to go numb.

Rey focused on breathing deeply, drawing as much oxygen she could into her lungs. She wasn't particularly good at holding her breath, and she knew that would be important. Ben had said she would need to do something once she was submerged, but couldn't tell her what, other than _don't drown._ Drowning was how this test was failed.

The scientists would resucitate her, of course, and that was why the water had to be so cold. But that was small comfort as the water swallowed her head, the cold piercing into her eyes and nose.

Once the water had covered her hands, Rey opened her eyes, blinking against the sting of the water. She waited for something to happen as she held her breath, the seconds ticking by. What was she supposed to do?

The edges of her vision started to darken, and she felt panic begin to overtake her senses. She needed to breathe! She tried pulling at her manacles, hoping the water and spreading numbness would help her slip free, but to no avail. She began to feel an animalistic need to get out overtake her, and thrashed against her bonds wildly.

At last, it was too much. Spots obscured her vision, and everything started to go black

_No!_ she thought fiercly. _I can't fail this!_ She reached deep inside herself, and found something waiting. She took hold of it, and _pushed_.

Suddenly, she felt something tugging on her arms and legs. Her head cleared the water, and she coughed, drawing sweet, fresh air into her lungs. She hadn't drowned, but had she somehow failed the test?

But as her vision cleared, she saw that the water was receding, not through the drains in the floor, but through a giant, jagged hole in the plasteel barrier. Shouting came from the other side, and a small explosion as a console overloaded from the water. 

The water stopped draining when it reached the bottom of the hole, and sloshed back and forth around her knees. She shivered, but couldn't help the grin that grew on her face as she realized that _she_ had made the hole. _Take that_ , she thought viciously. _Did I pass your fucking test?_

After a few moments, someone thought to release the drains, and the rest of the water was quickly sucked down into the floor. The door opened up, and the technicians rushed in as the chains holding her extended once more to let her stand. This time, it was the older woman who worked to undo her manacles, while the young man stared at her in something approaching shock.

She just smiled back.

They got her dried off and bundled her up in warm clothing, and then gave her some hot broth to drink. It had a strange, bitter aftertaste to it, but it chased the last of the chill from her bones, so she wasn't going to complain. As soon as the sensors showed she was no longer hyperthermic, it was off to the next test.

This time, she was hooked up to a variety of monitors. Dozens of electrodes were glued to her bare scalp, a band was placed around her chest to monitor her breathing, a tube run beneath her nose to test her oxygen and carbon dioxide output, and a clamp on her finger to watch her pulse and blood oxygen levels.

It took forever. "Why don't you just use scanners?" she asked the techs, not expecting a response.

The young man glanced nervously at her, but it was the woman who answered. "Scanners tend to bug out on this test. Better to do it the old-fashioned way, to be safe."

Rey lifted her eyebrows - or rather her forehead, they still hadn't grown in yet - but said nothing further. She allowed herself to be led to a strange-looking pod. The outside was white and elliptical, like a giant egg on its side. The inside was a black so dark it seemed to swallow the light. As she got into the pod, she discovered that it contained a small repulsor-lift bed, which made her float weightlessly a foot above the bottom. The cables to her monitors were fed through a series of tubes, and the young tech gave her a small injection. Then the lid was closed.

Inside, it was perfectly dark, and perfectly silent. She felt whatever she'd been injected with swimming through her bloodstream, and found within moments that she couldn't move. Her breathing slowed but held steady. She thought she felt her eyelids fluttering, but there was no difference between when they were open and closed, so it was hard to tell. She reached for her bond with Ben, for something tangible to hold on to, but he was faint and distant. Was it an effect of the drug, or had he deliberately blocked her out?

Without any frame of reference, Rey began to feel as though she were sinking, and then falling through the empty void of space. Her heartbeat accellerated, and she struggled to stay calm with no conscious control of her breath. How long had she been in the pod? A minute? An hour? A cycle? Forever?

Finally, Rey began to feel as if she had no body at all. She floated, weightless. It felt very much like when Kylo had invaded her mind, or when she had visited his. Maybe that was where she was, inside her mind. But it was still dark, no swirling colors surrounded her. She felt only the Dark Side, seething and roiling like the rivers of lava that cris-crossed this planet. It seemed to wash over her, to touch her with curious fingers. _Who are you?_ it seemed to ask. _Why have you come here?_

A sensation jolted through Rey - tears on her face. A deep and wrenching sorrow consumed her, and she couldn't place it. Someone was crying - was it her? She didn't think so. And then words seemed to come from the darkness, distant and muffled.

_Anakin, you're breaking my heart!_

__

You turned her against me!

__

_You have done that yourself!_

Pain, so much pain, lancing through her legs and one arm, fire burning along her skin. Hotter still was the rage, the hatred that blazed within her.

_I loved you, Anakin,_ someone shouted. _You were my brother!_

And there was more, so much more suffering and hurt. Hundreds of people, their faces flashing before her until they all blurred together. They cried, and screamed, or shook silently. Some called out names she didn't recognize. Then suddenly, her focus stopped on one little girl, with hazel eyes and wavy brown hair.

"Mama..." she cried, her voice thin and rough from screaming. "Mama, come back..."

Rey felt an incredibly overpowering urge to to reach out to the little girl, to hold her close and comfort her. She wanted so badly just to touch her, to see recognition in her eyes...

Suddenly, light intruded into her visions. It was so bright she could hardly stand it. She tried to close her eyes, but they were already squeezed shut. Hands touched her, the sensation overpowering after so long without. One of her eyelids was peeled back, the light stabbing into her eyes.

"The parylitic hasn't had time to wear off," she heard the voice of the female tech. "Quick, give her a sedative before she smashes something else!"

Something else? What had she smashed? A needle pricked her neck, and then she fell once more into nothing, although this time it was much more peaceful.

* * *

 

Rey found herself sitting beside the lake at Takodana, watching as the light faded from the sky. She sat there for some time, trying to sift through the visions she had experienced. They felt very different from the vision she'd had in the basement of Maz's castle, or the one she'd had of Ben leaving, but she couldn't put her finger on why.

Eventually Ben joined her, walking out of the darkening forest. He sat beside her silently, sensing that she was deep in thought. When the last of the light had bled from the sky, Rey picked a pebble from the ground and tossed it into the lake, disturbing the reflection of a bonfire on the far side with endless ripples.

"I passed the first test," she told Ben.

He nodded. "I think I felt it when you did. Felt like something... exploding."

She smiled a little. "I blew a hole in the plasteel barrier to let the water out," she explained.

Ben mirrored her smile and glanced down, shaking his head. "And the second?"

"I don't know. They took me out of the pod and immediately sedated me. Something about smashing things. I had the strangest visions..." she toyed with another pebble, levitating it above her palm.

"If you had visions, then you passed. That's what they were trying to induce," he told her.

She nodded. "They were different, though. I heard Padme's voice, and Anakin's. And another, that I've heard in visions before. He said that he was Anakin's brother?"

Ben drew in a deep breath and sighed. "That would be Obi-wan Kenobi. He fought Anakin, or rather, the newly-dubbed Darth Vader, on Mustafar, wounding him greviously and leaving him for dead. I had similar visions when I was tested."

She nodded, but frowned. "But why would I have heard his voice before?"

He tilted his head. "When did you hear it?"

She gestured to the castle, looming in the darkness. "When I found Luke's lightsaber in the basement. When I touched it, I saw things.... I saw you, actually. But I also heard many different voices. One of them was Luke's, and one of them must have been Obi-wan."

"What did he say?" Ben asked.

She thought about it a moment, remembering. "These are your first steps, Rey."

Ben's eyebrows rose. "He addressed you directly?"

Rey nodded. "Is that strange?"

He held up his hands, opening his mouth and closing it before he found the right words. "Yes? I mean, not for Obi-wan, according to Uncle Luke. When he died he passed into a being of pure Force, and was able to communicate with Luke and continue his training even after his death. But all of your other visions are images of the past or future, right?"

She nodded.

"Those are typical Jedi visions. If he addressed you directly, then that was his spirit communicating something to you."

"But why me?" she asked.

Ben shrugged and leaned back on his hands. "The lightsaber you found was in his possession for almost two decades," he reasoned, "Longer than Luke or my grandfather had it, combined. maybe it's still connected to his spirit somehow."

Rey nodded, but the answer seemed somehow lacking. They sat in silence for a while. "I saw my mother, too." She recognized the girl who had cried for her own mother, why she had seemed so familiar and why she had wanted to reach out to her so badly. "I think... I think she was tested there too."

He made a pained expression. "Imperial procedure was much the same," he admitted. "If they found the child of a known Force-user, they would have tested her."

"She was so young," she whispered.

Ben shifted closer to her, wrapping an arm around her waist. She leaned her head against his shoulder, and he kissed the top of her bare head. "The first two tests are the worst. If you don't pass them, that's the end of it. The rest are easier."

She frowned. "That doesn't make any sense," she complained. "Why not start with the easy tests and then stop when they fail?"

"Efficiency," he said bluntly. "Running the hardest tests first saves them time."

Rey sighed. "I suppose."

"You should get some real rest," he told her, lowering his head to kiss her softly. "You'll need your strength tomorrow."

"Just... stay with me for a bit longer?" she asked, snuggling closer to him.

"Of course." He held her, the both of them staring out across the lake, until she slipped into deeper sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first scene of this chapter is exactly the same as the Low Road Chapter 6, so if you read that one first, you can skip to the first line break about 2/3 of the way down!

Rey wasn't sure at first if she was awake or asleep. She was being marched through the hallways of the training facility on Mustafar, but everything was different. The stormtroopers' armor looked different, and there were so many people, bustling everywhere. The hallways were wider, taller, and the stormtroopers were all much taller than her.

And she wanted her mama.

It was that last thought that jolted Rey into the realization that she was dreaming. Not that she hadn't longed for her family with that same aching desire, but this was far more acute and specific. She wanted her Mama, who looked like this and smelled like juba fruit and sang lullubies to her. Rey remembered none of those things.

The dream shifted, and she was drowning. She cried and screamed, but her lungs only filled with water. There was nothing to reach for to help. Waking again, her lungs burning. The awful darkness... hours and hours of just nothing. Crying for her mama, and no one answering.

At last, exhausted, she sat on an examination table. She felt like crying but no tears would come. One of the mean people in white stood in front of her, making notes on a datapad.

The door to the room hissed open, and in walked the scary man who had brought her here. His head was white like the snow on that one planet Mama had taken her to - what was it called? She couldn't remember - and there were red marks on his cheeks like he'd been crying blood. He wore black.

"I heard the testing has been aborted?" the scary man asked.

"Yes. She's failed the first two tests, Inquisitor," the man in white handed over the datapad.

The scary man, the Inquisitor - she turned the new word over in her head carefully - took it and looked through it a moment. "But her midichlorian count is so high," he commented, frowning.

The mean man nodded. "It happens that way sometimes. The ability goes dormant for a generation or two. Sometimes it never resurfaces. No one really knows why."

The Inquisitor looked up at her, considering. "So her offspring could be Force-users?"

"Precisely. Which is why I've reccomended sterilization," the man in white gestured to the datapad.

The scary man tapped the datapad against his hand, but didn't look away from her. "No, they could be useful to the Empire if we take them early enough."

The mean man nodded. "As you command, Inquisitor."

The Inquisitor handed the datapad back, and came to stand right in front of her, even crouching a little so he was on the same level as her. "What is your name, little girl?" he asked.

"Zara," she croaked.

"Zara. That's a pretty name. Zara, did your mommy ever do strange things, like lift objects up without touching them, or know what other people were thinking?"

She nodded. Mama had been careful to hide what she could do, but not from Zara.

"Well, Zara, I hate to tell you this, but those things your mommy did were very bad," he growled. "You must never, ever try to do those things, yes?"

Her body quivering, she nodded.

"And if you ever see anybody do those things, you must find an Imperial Officer and tell them about it right away." There was something funny about his voice, it felt heavy.

"I'll find a ossifer and tell them right away," she agreed.

"Good girl. And you'll forget all about this place," he added.

She nodded. "Forget this place." She didn't want to remember it anyway.

"Excellent." The Inquisitor stood, and turned back to the man in white. "Put her with a loyal family, on one of the nicer agricultural worlds. See to it she's fed adequately."

"Yes, Inquisitor," the man agreed.

The dream shifted through a series of images.  A planet, covered entirely in squares of green and brown and gold. A portly woman and a muscular man, who became her new Mama and Papa. Warm days of hard work on the farm, repairing the machinery and droids that helped with the growing and harvesting. The smile of the young man from the next farm over, Joden was his name. He made her laugh.

The day that whispers came that the Emperor had been killed. The growing chaos as the Imperial garrison that oversaw the planet's industry tried to keep them calm and keep things running. Rumors that the shipments of the food they grew never left planetside, and sat rotting away. Having to do with less and less, and still the imperials took their harvests.

The day that Joden told her that some of the farmers were going to overthrow the garrison, and he was going with them. She should come too, he told her, but she could only shake her head. She spent the day hidden in the cellar, convinced he would never come back.

But he did come back. The garrison had fallen easily - they'd been fighting amongst themselves when the farmers attacked. Joden came back with nothing more serious than a gash on his arm, and he told her they were safe. The Empire had long since fallen, and the New Republic was already brokering a deal for the export of their crops. Everything would be okay now.

Zara wasn't sure if she believed him, but she married Joden anyway. They were happy for a time, and lost themselves in the cycle of plant, grow, harvest. Soon she felt her own cycles shift, and gave birth to a little girl. Joden couldn't be happier, but Zara found she was always wary around the babe. There was something, something she couldn't quite remember. Something she should be watching out for.

One day, Zara caught her daughter climbing the tall Juba fruit tree next to their house. She'd scolded her many times for this - not only was the fruit delicate and valuable, but the girl could fall and hurt herself. As Zara rushed towards the tree - how had such a tiny child gotten up so far? - she heard a sharp crack and felt her stomach drop.

She watched, in horror, as her only child fell a good ten meters straight towards the hard, unforgiving ground. But at the last moment, the child seemed to slow, and landed on her feet like one of the lyxxa they kept to hunt the mice out of the granaries. The branch she had fallen from had come crashing down, too, but it hung in the air above her daughter's head, slowly turning before it shifted and dropped neatly to the ground beside the girl.

Zara felt her blood run cold.

Joden ran out of the house, and scooped up the girl. "Kyra, are you okay?" he asked. "You know you shouldn't do that!" the girl only giggled and hugged her father back. He turned to look at Zara. "It's okay, she's not hurt."

Zara stood frozen. She knew what she was supposed to do. But there were no Imperial officers anymore, no one to tell. Her head hurt suddenly, and she sat hard of the ground.

Her husband came to her and rubbed her back, assuming it was the shock of the event that had her upset. She couldn't tell him, couldn't let him know. He wouldn't understand.

That night, she didn't sleep. She knew she had to do something. A memory tugged at the corners of her mind. Something she thought her mother had told her, although the memory seemed wrong somehow. Her Mama was plump and soft, and this woman was thin and muscular, but she was sure it was her Mama. She told her that if she ever needed to hide, she should find the old man in the desert. He would take care of her.

But what desert? There was no desert on her homeworld. She got up and booted up the old holonet set in the sitting room, searching for desert worlds. There was one not far away, called Jakku. She remembered hearing about a battle there, one of the Empire's last stands. Was that it?

When Joden left with the harvest, Zara took the small ship they were planning to pay off with this year's pay and left the planet. She couldn't remember ever being offworld, but the sight of the gridded surface looked hauntingly familiar.

She went to Jakku. She found no old man, but quickly located a merchant who promised to watch Kyra and take care of her. He didn't even ask for payment, so he must be a good man. Anything to keep her safe, keep her hidden, so no one would ever find out what she was.

Her last sight of her daughter was her screaming at her to come back - and didn't that feel familiar, too? She took one last look at the girl, her hair done up in three little buns, and left. It was the only way.

* * *

 

Rey sat bolt upright, shivering and covered in sweat. She was in a dark, unfamiliar room, lit only by the orange glow of lava from the window. Her heart was pounding, and she couldn't seem to catch her breath. She shifted so her back was against the wall, and drew her knees in tight to her chest, trying to think.

Her mother had abandoned her. She knew this already, but now she knew why. It was because she was a Jedi - or a Force-user at least. She'd been terrified of her own daughter, for reasons she didn't even understand. She'd just found the nearest desert planet and dumped her on it.

Rey felt a bitterness in the back of her throat. _How could she?_ How could someone just leave their own flesh and blood like that? All around her, the Darkness swirled and roiled, enveloping her.

_The ones you love will always leave you,_ it whispered. They left me. They left you. Love is weak, and cannot be trusted.

She swallowed hard and leaned her forehead against her knees. She didn't know who it was that spoke to her, but she suspected. And she knew he was probably right.

* * *

 

Ben woke early, filled with a sense of unease. He could tell Rey was upset, but when he reached for the bond, she seemed to brush him away. He knew her visions had upset her, and she'd be busy with the physical tests today anyway.

He dressed, unsure what to do with himself. There were no briefs scheduled for today, he'd given them all the intel he could.

At last he settled on training on the landing field, and then maybe he'd go visit his mother, if she wasn't busy. For some reason, he found he just wanted to be near her today.

With his lightsaber still in Leia's custody, Ben settled for a stick from one of the trees near the barracks. Crooked, heavy, and a little sticky with sap, it would have to do. It was flawed, and could still be useful. Maybe so could he.

* * *

 

As Ben had promised, the rest of the tests were less disturbing. She ran on a treadmill, as fast as she could, for as long as she could. She lifted increasingly heavy weights until she couldn't any longer. She jumped as far as she could, and then as high as she could.

She was then given an intelligence test, and given a number of small puzzles to solve. The very last test was administered by the young male tech she had seen the day before. He stared at a series of images that she couldn't see, and she had to guess what they were.

This gave her a moment of pause. She knew she could reach into his mind and take the images easily, but it would be painful for the tech. She tried just grazing his thoughts, as Luke had taught her, but it didn't seem to be quite enough. In the end she went into his mind, as gentle and carefully as she could. It wasn't long before sweat stood out on his forehead and a crease appeared between his brows, but he pressed on as if he didn't have a terrible headache.

Finished, Rey found she was completely exhausted. She had been pushed to her very limits, physically, mentally, and in her use of the Force.  So it was that when the officer in white who had first greeted her came to congratulate her on achieving some of the highest scores the facility had ever seen, she only nodded.

She was glad it was over, but at the same time, she knew that this was only the first step. High scores meant she would be going to Snoke, and that he would try to train her. Her legs shook as she boarded the shuttle that would return her to the _Finalizer_ , and for the first time she worried if she was strong enough to face what lay ahead of her.


	7. Chapter 7

Back on board the _Finalizer_ , Rey was led along the twisting paths of the star destroyer. She couldn't be sure, but she was fairly certain they were not headed towards the brig. For one thing, the lifts they took went up, instead of down. At last the unit guarding her came to a door, beside which stood General Hux.

"Congratulations on passing the tests," he said, the words more a formality than anything.

Rey said nothing. She was finding that silence was a very effective tool for unsettling others.

Sighing in exasperation, Hux hit the access panel for the door in front of them, and gestured for her to go through the opening doors. She did so, surprised that none of her guards followed, only Hux.

The doors slid shut. The room appeared to be an officer's quarters, with a workstation, a window, and a bed in an alcove to one side. Was this Hux's room? She turned to him and lifted the ghost of one eyebrow.

"This used to be Kylo Ren's quarters," he told her, as if reading her thoughts. "And they can be yours, if you provide me with the remainder of the information I desire."

Rey was surprised. Hux must be very impatient to press her for more so soon. Maybe he thought after he delivered her to Snoke, she wouldn't be willing to communicate anything further? She didn't have much more to give, and wasn't going to be able to parse it out at this rate.

She sat on the edge of the bed, and regarded the General carefully. "I like it, but the price is a little steep," she said. "Is there anything else I could offer in exchange?" She asked casually. It was a test, to see if he had any interest in taking the bait.

Outwardly, he gave almost no reaction. A little color at the collar of his uniform, perhaps, and a careful scrutiny of her figure. But a careful probe through the Force revealed that the idea had taken him somewhat by surprise, as did his own lust in response. Most tellingly, he glanced up at one corner of the room before making his decision.

"Not at the moment, no," he said finally.

So they were being watched, then. She took note of which corner he'd looked to, and locked that information away. She shrugged nonchalantly. "I might have a few details I can let you know, and you decide if that's enough." It was a risk, but based on his earlier choice to overpay her, she thought it would pay off.

"I'm listening," he said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall.

She thought hard, deciding what to tell and what to give away. She chose one detail she thought would make the most impact.

"Her name is Leora," she said finally.

Hux froze, not even breathing for a moment. Without looking away from her, he pulled the chair out from the workstation and sat, hard.

"A girl?" he breathed.

She bit back a smile. "Are you disappointed?" She figured he was looking for an heir, and that might throw a hydrospanner in his plans.

He let out a sharp bark of laughter, and it was so inconsistent with him that it actually startled her. "Hardly," he drawled, sitting back in the chair. "The most influential person in my life was a woman," he said simply, and then an odd smile crossed his face. "Funny thing, her name was Rae too. She is the reason I am who I am today." He gestured towards the room around them, indicating the _Finalizer_ in whole.

Rey frowned, trying to figure him out. "And it doesn't bother you that your daughter is a bastard, and her mother is a whore?" She knew the words were cruel, but she had the worst urge to jab at Hux, to try and unsettle him.

It didn't work. He actually grinned, and leaned towards her to speak conspiriatorially. "My mother was a kitchen worker on my father's estate," he told her.

She blinked, shocked at the admission. So Hux was a bastard, too. Why would he tell her that? Kylo had told her that Hux had inherited a lot of money from his father. Interesting that he claimed this Rae was his mentor, and not his father. The General was even more of an enigma than she had guessed.

As if realizing he may have given too much away, Hux cleared his throat and stood. " So. Leora," he tasted the name, relishing it. "An acceptable trade," he decided. "The quarters are yours, although the door will stay locked and guarded."

Rey nodded her head to the side, understanding the concession. It was far more than she could have hoped for.

"Supreme Leader Snoke has requested that you attend an audience in a few hours, and then we will be leaving," he explained. "Take your time getting settled in."

"I will. Thank you, General Hux."

He nodded graciously, and left.

Rey frowned. He had something up his sleeve, she could tell. She just didn't know what, and she was too tired to figure it out.

Instead, she decided to explore Kylo's quarters. They weren't as fancy as the appointments on the Lamda class shuttle he'd stolen from Hux, but to Rey they were the paradigm of luxury. There was a 'fresher, with sonics _and_ water. A nutrient station, with dozens of meals to choose from. A workstation that was currently locked, but she'd work on that later.

A small door opposite the 'fresher led to a stark white room.  It held only a plinth, on which rested a twisted mess of plasteel that looked almost like a skull. The room, although brightly lit and spotless, reeked with the taint of the Dark Side. She closed the door without going in.

While looking through the various storage compartments, Rey found a few sets of spare clothing. Pulling out a tunic, she held it to her face and breathed deeply.

It didn't smell like him.

She put it on anyway, and found a webbing belt that she could adjust to her own size, and belted it around her. The tunic fell past her knees and was baggy, but it added another layer of warmth to the black shirt, pants, and boots she wore. It would do.

That accomplished, she curled up in the bed - his bed, and her bed now - and tried to catch a few hours' rest before she had to face Snoke.

* * *

 

Rey woke to the sound of a chime. She sat up, immediately fully conscious. The chime sounded again, and she realized it was the door. She stood and pressed the access panel. To her surprise, the door opened.

A unit of three guards stood ready outside the door. "You're to come with us," the sargeant said.

Rey nodded, and followed them willingly. She was not cuffed, and although the guard walking behind her had his weapon out, it wasn't trained on her. She frowned. Was this new level of trust because of something Hux had said? It seemed strange.

The path they took was long and winding. The ship was enormous, bigger than the biggest city Rey had ever been in. At last they came to a pair of double-doors, and next to them, Hux.

He looked down at her addition to her clothing, and clicked his tongue disaprovingly. "I'll have your workstation access modified so you can order clothes that actually fit you," he said.

Rey blinked. Why was he being so _nice_ to her? It felt wrong.

Before she could comment, the doors chimed and opened, and she followed him into a huge, dark cavern. They walked down a path, and when they reached a giant structure at the end of it, he pointed at a spot on the floor and simply said, "kneel."

She felt a flash of irritation. Did he think she was his lapdog, that he could order around? But she worried that it would anger Snoke if she wasn't kneeling, so she did as Hux said.

Far above them holoprojectors came to life, casting blue light onto the structure before them, which was revealed to be a giant throne. The figure that appeared sitting upon it was ten times the size of a human. Rey knew it was just a projection, but the terrifying thing was that she felt him there, too. And the weight of his presence matched that size.

He looked like something from a nightmare - skull disfigured, pieces missing from his face. Like a rotting corpse that scavengers have just started to pick at. And the Darkness bled off him like a stench.

Suddenly, she was glad she was kneeling, as she wasn't sure her knees would have held.

"So," his gravelly voice filled the enormous chamber, although it wasn't loud. "This is the scavenger who has caused us so much trouble."

Rey swallowed and looked down at the floor, unsure how to respond.

"Her scores came back off the charts," Hux reported.

Snoke leaned back, considering her. "Then you may yet be worth the trouble," he mused. "I hope you are enjoying your new appointments?" he asked.

Rey glanced up at Hux, who stared resolutely forward. The actual bastard had been ordered to give her Kylo's quarters and had gotten more info out of her anyway. That's what he'd been so tickled about. Asshole. She nodded sharply in response to Snoke's question.

The giant hologram stared at her for a moment longer, and then eschewed the formalities. "Tell me girl, what do you seek?"

Rey could feel his mind probing hers, despite the lightyears between them. She knew if she lied he would know.

"I want to train," she said honestly.

"To be a Jedi?" Snoke asked condescendingly.

Rey clenched her fists. "The Jedi... seem weak," she admitted. "My Master was hesitant to teach me the things I wanted to learn." It felt like a horrible betrayal, but it was true.

"And Kylo Ren?"

Rey looked up sharply. "Kylo Ren is dead," she said firmly. "I killed him. I found your little door and tore it wide open. Now only Ben remains."

Snoke made a sound of derision. "He was weak, too. Not a difficult kill. I tried to make him stronger, but..." he made a dismissive gesture. "It was only a stop-gap measure, at best."

She felt the anger rise in her, and rather than quashing it, she wrapped it around her like a cloak. Snoke's face pulled into something like a smile, or a grimace.

"Ah, yes. But you, you're already strong, aren't you. I can make you much, much stronger, if you agree to be my apprentice and let me train you," he offered.

Rey considered. "I agree to train," she said slowly. "But I will never call you Master."

Beside her, Hux turned and stared at her with barely concealed trepidation.

Snoke chuckled, a broken, rattling sound. "We shall see. We shall see. General Hux, bring her to me."

Hux snapped back to attention. "Yes, Supreme Leader. I've prepared the Finalizer to jump to the deep space entry point, and we can leave immediately."

"Good." With that, his hologram disappeared.

Rey collapsed back on her heels, short of breath. Above her, Hux stared down at her like she was crazy. She just smiled back up at him. _Play with me and you play with fire,_ she warned him silently.

"Back to your quarters," he ordered sharply.

Rey stood on shaky legs, and gave him no further notice, walking back to her guards as if they were there for her protection, and not to protect everyone else from her. The trip back to her room was ridiculously long, and she was exhausted by the time they reached the door. She could tell that this was part of the message - she was at Snoke's disposal, and she would traverse the enormous ship at his pleasure. But, she noted that Hux had to do the same. Interesting, that.

As she collapsed on her bed, she resolved to hack her workstation first thing in the morning. Half-formed plans began to swirl around her head, pieces clicking into place.

She could make this work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, Hux is way too much fun to write.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. NaNoWriMo was kind of a bust (34k words, which is something, but far short of the 50k goal). Episode VIII comes out in a little over a week, and based on the lack of comments on the last few chapters I'm guessing that like me, you're a little too wrapped up in wondering what the new movie will be like to worry about this little experiment.
> 
> No biggies, I'm just going to post the snippets I had written for future parts of the story and call it good.
> 
> Not sure if I'll write any fanfic for episode VIII, as starting Jan 1 the plan is to start writing the sequel to my published novel, "Vampire, Hunter." If VIII is half as good as VII, I probably won't be able to help myself lol. But if you're dying to read more of my writing, and you like dark, evil guys being called out on their bullshit by the smart, tough girls who the love (read: are unhealthily obsessed with) then you can find the eBook for "Vampire, Hunter" just about everywhere and the print book at booksamillion.com. Same name, Maria Arnt and I suggest searching by that as the unique spelling cuts down on results.

_Ben you have to WAKE UP!_

Ben sat bolt upright in his bunk, gasping for breath. For a moment he was disoriented by his surroundings, still unfamiliar with the base on D'Qar.

<We don't have much time, you have to hurry!> Rey's voice was distant and hard to understand, as if she were shouting across a vast chasm. And in a very real way, she was. She was on the other side of the galaxy, and still, somehow, she managed to maintain contact with him.

<Can you still hear me?> she pleaded, nearly unstrung.

<Yes!> Throwing off his blankets, Ben yanked on a shirt and ran to the communications hub, not even bothering with shoes.

"Get me a connection to Kamino!" he barked, finding that ordering people around still came naturally to him.

One young corporal jumped nearly a foot out of his seat and scrambled to obey, but a lieutenant at one of the other stations took off her headset and scowled at him. "On whose authority?"

"General Organa," he growled.

She crossed her arms. "I don't see her here," she said sarcastically. "Did she give you an authorization code?"

Ben nearly laughed at her attempt at intimidation. "Why don't you ask her yourself?"

Her eyes narrowed. "I will."

He smiled. She meant to call his bluff, but having his mother on board would make things go much more smoothly.

"Sir? I have the Kaminoan ambassador on the line," the corporal offered.

Ignoring the Lieutenant, Ben took the corporal's seat and faced the holographic image of the long-necked alien. Frankly, the cloners creeped him out, he'd had nightmares about them as a boy, but then he'd had nightmares about a lot of things.

"How can we be of assistance, Mister...." the ambassador's voice was a smooth contralto which gave him no hint as to gender or age.

"Ben Solo," he said, and only hesitated a little. "Earlier the Resistance contacted you about storing a large amount of data on your supercomputers."

"Yes, of course. We did come to an agreement of eleven million credits, but when the Resistance did not contact us again, we assumed the price was too steep," the Kaminoan said diplomatically.

He laughed. "Eleven million will be no trouble, as long as you don't mind that it comes from several accounts," he offered.

The cloner's wide eyes became even wider. "Very well, will you be sending the transfer soon?"

<Hurry, Ben, they're getting into formation to jump now! They're just waiting on the data!>

"Actually, I'm going to have to send you the first packet of data first, make the connection to your computer system immediately and prepare for download," he grimaced. No time for diplomacy, it seemed.

"Mr. Solo, this is most unusual! I cannot possibly--"

Suddenly Leia sat down on the comm next to him and wired her headset into the transmission. "Ambassador Plu Kon, this is General Organa. I apologize for the momentary delay, but I promise you the funds will be forthcoming. Just store the first packet, and if we don't pay up you can always delete it." She spoke in a friendly tone, but there was something to her presence that made it clear she wasn't going to stand for arguments.

The ambassador closed their eyes and tilted their head, acquiescing. "General Organa, it is good to see you. I will accept your word that the credits will be transfered after the first data packet is received."

<It's happening, are you ready?> Rey called to him.

Ben adjusted the manual input interface in front of him and stretched out his fingers. "Did you make the connection?" he asked the ambassador.

"Please begin sending the data, we will transfer it to our databanks. Will it be compressed for transmission?"

"I'll be entering it manually," Ben said tersely. <Ready!> he told Rey silently.

In response, a flood of numbers and symbols began streaming into his mind. At first he had trouble keeping up, but he quickly settled into a trance. He didn't think about the data, he just typed it out as it appeared in his mind.

His mother and the ambassador continued to speak, and he frowned, trying to block it out. After a moment, the sound cut out, and he glanced over to see that she had unplugged his headset. The headphones worked well to block out the remaining sound in the comm center. She gave him a small smile and an encouraging nod, and he went back to focusing on his work.

* * *

 

The data for the first jump took over an hour to type out manually. Once that was done, Ben immediately turned to accessing Hux's unnamed accounts, tapping into four of the smaller ones to gather the neccessary eleven million without taking too much from any one place.

When Leia received confirmation from Kamino that the funds had been received, she put a hand on her son's back. He sat staring at the comm in front of him blankly, although he wasn't typing anything at the moment.

"Do you know how long the first jump is going to be?" she asked gently, so as not to startle him. When he didn't respond, she carefully removed the unplugged headset and repeated the question.

"Several hours. The shortest is a little under half an hour," he said numbly.

"You should get some rest," she suggested. "You've got another thirty-six to go, you'll need to keep up your stamina."

He turned to face her, but his eyes were distant. "There won't be much warning before the next jump. They will only wait long enough to receive the next coordinates. If I go back to my quarters I may not make it here in time."

She nodded. "I'll have a cot brought in."

* * *

 

In the end, it took nearly a week. Ben entered a surreal state where he did nothing but eat, sleep, and transfer data. He only used the 'fresher immediately after delivering a packet. His whole universe dwindled to the comm room - which the other Resistance fighters tended to avoid if possible now - and Rey's voice calling to him across the stars.

Leia often came to sit next to him while he worked, and sometimes Chewie. With all of his focus on the data streaming through his fingers, he didn't have time to feel regrets. He found their presence comforting, and their support gave him strength.

Ben took a deep breath. He'd gotten so used to this, he could tell when the packets were coming to a close. As he entered the last few digits, he let it go and closed his eyes, so far beyond exhaustion he felt nothing but empty.

Suddenly there were screams around him, and loud noises. He jumped out of his chair, reaching for his lightsaber, which wasn't there. The moment of confusion was enough for him to see the smiling faces of the people who had crowded into the comm center.

They weren't screaming, they were cheering. They were cheering for him. A hand on his shoulder made him jump again, and he looked down to see his mother beaming up at him. "That was the last one," she explained. "The thirty-seventh jump. You did it."

He nearly collapsed with releif. Leia caught him - made it look like it was just a hug, which wouldn't seem odd to anyone else - and helped him to sit down. C-3PO trundled up to them, waving his arms in excitement.

"Well done, Master Ben! Even a droid couldn't have handled that much data better! We were all most impressed."

"Thanks, Threepioh," he croaked.

<That's the end of it?> he asked Rey.

<Yes, we're here.> He caught images of the base from her mind, and the five destroyers defending it.

"Damn," he said out loud.

By now, most of the Resistance was too busy celebrating to notice, but Leia frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"He's strengthened his fortifications. We'll have to throw everything we have at it," he explained.

The corner of Leia's mouth twitched. "I'll see what I can do. You should go get some fresh air, and then some sleep in a real bed."

"Yes, mother," came the automatic sarcastic response. They both looked at each other, surprised. Leia just smiled, and patted his cheek.

"It's good to have you back, Ben," she told him.

He tried to smile back, but couldn't help but feel the weight of the consequences of his return. He should have stayed with Rey. Now she had to face Snoke alone.

<Stay strong, sweetheart,> he told her.

There was no response. The connection had faded so he could no longer hear her, but he could still feel her, frightened but determined.

All around him, the celebrations were turning into planning, as excited Resistance leaders spitballed ideas for how best to use the data they had now. It made him realize that he would need all the help he could get.

He turned to Chewie, who was listening to the plans, but had stayed by his side. "I know I don't have any right to ask this of you," he said solemnly, "since I'm the one who owes _you_ a life debt now."

Chewbacca chuffed that he had stopped keeping track of who saved whose life a long time ago. He was willing to help, if he could.

"I need to go to the First Jedi Temple," Ben told him. "It's time I talked to Uncle Luke."

* * *

* * *

* * *

Rey ran as fast as her exhausted legs could carry her, Ben right behind her. The place was falling apart around them, as the ships above bombarded the surface of the small planetoid. It felt as if Snoke's presence had been the only thing holding it up.

She rounded a corner, and then skidded to a stop. Only their bond kept Ben from running into her from behind.

General Hux stood before them, hair and uniform in disarray, a blaster pointed at them with one shaking hand.

"Hux," Ben growled, and made to move in front of Rey and protect her.

Rey held out a hand to stop him, turning her head only a fraction. She kept her eyes locked on the General. "Armitage," she said smoothly. "I'm surprised you're still here. If you were as talented a tactician as you claim, you would have retreated with your inheritance an hour ago."

He let out a bark of laughter. "Inheritance?! Have you looked out the viewport?" he gestured widely to the view of the battle beside them. "After this battle, all I stand to inherit is a pile of smoking slag and a public execution!"

<Why is he complaining about this to you?> Ben demanded, suspicion coloring his voice.

<He's just figured out that I've betrayed him,> she explained bluntly.

<Betrayed...?> behind her, Ben groaned. <You didn't!>

Rey supressed a grin. <I did.> To anyone else, she would have claimed she had done what was necessary, but she couldn't lie to Ben. "I warned you, Armitage. It's not my fault you waited too long to make your move."

"Don't call me that you whore!" he shouted. He fired the blaster.

Rey's lightsaber was ignited and twirling before the laser left the barrel. She deflected it harmlessly. "Did you really think that was going to work against me?" she taunted.

"I have nothing left because of you!" His voice cracked on the final word.

There was a strange discord of feelings within Rey. She realized that she had broken Hux, and part of her, the Dark within her, was inordinately proud. But another part felt something else, something unpleasant and unfamiliar. Perhaps it was... guilt? And something more tugged at her memory.

"You have a family," she bit out, jealousy ringing clear in her voice.

The blaster lowered, wavering. "You're... you made that up. Pulled it from my mind. You don't really know where they are...." But he didn't sound entirely convinced.

Rey lifted one eyebrow. "Did I? How could I know what your little girl Leora looks like then?"

"Leora..." he breathed. The blaster lowered further, and then shot back up. "Tell me! Tell me where they are."

"I will," Rey promised. "But you must toss the blaster away, first." She put a little pressure of influence behind her words, but she needn't have bothered. He threw the blaster behind him without a second thought, and a random shot went off as it hit the floor, hitting the wall.

<Stay here,> she told Ben, and stepped forward. "Kneel."

Hux dropped to one knee reluctantly. Rey reached him, and caressed his face with one gloved hand, before resting her thumb on his forehead. "Now, open your mind to me, and swear that you will not harm them."

She felt his mind blossom beneath his touch. She'd been so tempted, for so long, and now that she was in it shocked her. The person who knelt her was not the bulwark of self-confidence she had imagined. He was nothing but a scared little boy, afraid of his father's fists, afraid of the other children who killed to protect him from his father. Only one face was safe - although it was long blurred by the flaws of memory. The other Raye, she realized.

"I swear to you," Hux whispered, voice shaking, "that I will not harm Ulyt or... or Leora, my daughter. I'll protect them," he promised. "Please, tell me where I can find them."

Rey was a little surprised to find that he was being completely honest. "Jakku," she said shortly, and felt the ripples of shock and anger as they ran through him. "They're living in an overturned AT-AT walker a few clicks north-east of Niima Outpost." She sent the images into his mind, and watched his eyelids flicker as he saw them as well.

She also felt a burst of surprise from behind her. Of course Ben would recognize the location, he'd been there too. She felt a curiosity, a need to know what she was seeing, from him. She severed the link to Hux before he could follow her in, stepping back.

The General blinked, his vision clearning. As he stood, his gaze slipped from Rey to Ben behind her. He seemed to recognize the Jedi for the first time. "Kylo Ren."

"Not anymore," Ben growled.

Glancing between the two of them, Hux shook his head. "She'll ruin you, you know," he said, voice raw.

Ben ground his teeth so hard Rey could feel it through the bond. "She already has."

With a breathless laugh, Hux turned and ran for the the hangar.

There was a moment of silence between Rey and Ben, broken only by the sounds of battle from other parts of the base.

At last, Ben said, "I can't believe you--"

"Oh, please!" Rey interrupted. "Seducing the General is the least of my sins by a long shot. He was useful, and it's not like it was hard. You could have done it yourself if you'd been paying attention," she snapped.

Ben balked. "He hates me!"

Rey shrugged. "All passion comes from one place," she quoted. The ground beneath their feet shook ominously. "Come on, let's get out of here." She held out a hand.

He hesitated, a muscle in his jaw jumping. But the bond between them tugged, and he couldn't help but obey. He slid his fingers between hers, and gripped tightly, as if to claim her. She squeezed back. They ran. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, if you've made it this far, I super appreciate it. The Last Jedi came out and kinda blew this whole thing up. As much fun as it was to write, the canon took things in such a different direction I kind of want to run with that. So I'm starting a new fic, "Fear is the Heart of Love," which is an alternate ending for TLJ (which means Episode IX can't ruin it). You can read it here:
> 
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/13608582/chapters/31242546
> 
> Let me know what you think!


End file.
